Morning Workshops (10:45am-12:15pm)

How to Choose and Balance Priorities

Presenter: Israel Solomon

As leaders, as people, we are ALWAYS “busy.” But although we are busy, are we being productive? There’s a difference between being busy and being productive. Just because you’re always busy, it doesn’t mean you’re productive. The issue with being busy and not being productive is the lack of priorities in our life. When you have priorities, saying no becomes much easier, and saying yes to more productive things become much easier. Priorities will give you balance in your life. When you lack priorities, you will always be distracted and tossed by the wave of every sea (James 1:6).

Discipling Messy People

Presenter: Scott Mehl

Life is messy for all of us.  But God has given us a path forward through the mess.  And he has designed each one of us to be his hands and feet for one another as we navigate this messy world.  Each one of us, speaking the truth in love to one another, are at the center of God’s plan to deal with the messes (internal and external) of life.  In this session we will explore how God has called every Christian to love one another through patiently knowing, sacrificially serving, truthfully speaking, and consistently “gospeling” one another.

Lord I Need You

Presenter: Kris Brossett

What do you do when you suffer in life? How do you proceed when your belief about God is challenged by your circumstance? In this session, we’ll look at what it means to follow Jesus in the midst of discouragement, disappointment, and disillusionment in life 

Engaging Media, Truth and Millennial Uncertainty

Presenter: Brittney Brown

Social media, TV shows, radio and music are attempting to reshape Christian theology and redefine truth by promoting relativism. This post-truth meme-driven era leaves many swapping truth for opinion and adopting “spiritual, but not religious” rhetoric and other destructive narratives to appear tolerant. As a result, believers are left wrestling with skepticism and identity dichotomies: Can I be a Christian, but deny doctrines that don’t align with “my truth” i.e. the reliability of the bible, Jesus being the only way for salvation? How can I be tolerant without conformity. This session will address the media’s influence on truth, provide a case for absolute truth, refute popular objections to Christianity, and equip believers to know what you believe and why you believe it, without compromise. 

Cultivating a Heart for Gang Neighbors

Presenter: Daniel Neiditch

What comes to our minds when we think of gang culture? While it’s easy to focus on the negative aspects of this lifestyle, have we stopped to consider what loving and ministering to them should look like? As the church, does our attitude reflect a lack of compassion and wanting nothing to do with them? Or are we intentionally looking to love our neighbors and see how Scripture should shape our heart towards them? Many barriers can prevail (cultural, unwillingness, etc.), but what would it look like for the church to come alongside to minister and share Christ rather than disregarding and dehumanizing them? We will look, from a biblical perspective, on how the church can cultivate a heart for gang neighbors and how to minister and love them.

Striving to Be a Mary in a Martha Driven World

Presenter: Elicia Horton

Striving to be a Mary and Martha in a Martha driven kind of world. (How to be students of the word & apply practical theology to our daily lives.) We will look at the historical account of these two sisters that were key women in the days of Jesus. They both played important roles in an oppressive culture that did not champion women to speak yet alone teach. Most often we look at Mary only and forget that Martha lived out her theology despite her practice of busyness. Most often we desire to be a Mary and forget the absolute importance of living out what we know. Even James 2:17 tells us, “faith without works is dead.” We will explore helpful tools and resources that can help us cultivate a lifestyle of what it looks like to be a Mary and a Martha. Both women and men can come together and learn from these two women as we strive to be not only students of the word but faithful doers of His word. 

The Christian Life in the Book of Revelation

Presenter: PJ Tibayan

The Christian life is war. Demons are real. Sin is in the world, the church, and the mirror. With the powerful sway of evil in our world how can Christians faithfully live for Jesus? Are we doomed to fail? God gave us the book of Revelation to captivate our thoughts and imagination with a picture of how to live in the world today. Christians need God’s “Revelation perspective.” We will get an overview of the book of Revelation and then focus on chapters 2-3 to grasp the message of the book applied to our call to discipleship in our urban and earthly contexts.

Afternoon Workshops (2:15pm-3:45pm)

How to Overcome Pornography

Presenter: Montell Fish and Patrick Bradley

Pornography has such a stronghold on our generation, even amongst those seeking to follow Jesus. With such easy and private access, we often feel overwhelmed with the temptation and doubt that there can ever be victory. Come and hear personal testimonies of overcoming pornography. Let’s learn how the Gospel is lived in a practical every day way through every temptation. 

God’s Plan: Oneness, Not Sameness

Presenter: Steve Ross

Is the pursuit of diversity a good idea or God’s ideal? Join us for a foundational workshop exploring God’s intention for ethnic and cultural harmony. We’ll survey the Old and New Testaments looking carefully at God’s design for diversity from eternity past, and discovering why the multiethnic church is key to advancing God’s Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.”

The Church: Why You Need to Belong

Presenter: Rudy Rubio

In a world shaped by consumerism, all too often we can treat the church like other parts of our lives, shopping around, looking for the best deals but never ending up anywhere. As believers we are called not just to “go to church” but “be the church” and committed to a local church, not just attend. 

Ministry in the Crockpot

Presenter: Tommy Forester

Ministry in Hard Places can often take a lot longer to see lasting fruit, but it can also be one of the best contexts for our growth and understanding of comprehensive discipleship.  The path from the beginning to experiencing a culture of comprehensive discipleship can be frustrating and often cause people to give up just before the breakthrough. At this workshop we will address this process and how managing your expectations is key to developing a culture of comprehensive discipleship that goes helps people go from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity for the the long-haul.

Losing Your Life to Find It: A Case for Living with Intentionality

Presenter: Melanie Garcia

Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” As disciples of Jesus, we are called to be radically alternative people marked by the love of God.  Do our daily lives reflect that reality? If not, how do we get there? In this session, we will examine what the Bible has to say about being disciples of Jesus; we will explore our own lives in light of those truths; and we will hear from believers making intentional choices to lose their lives for Jesus in the ordinariness of daily life.  

Money and My Heart

Presenter: Mike Larsen

Jesus cleansed the temple of money changers. Paul often clarified the difference between his ministry and that of false teachers by pointing out their greed. Peter warned that one way to spot a false prophet is to notice his or her fascination with financial gain. God assesses us not only by listening to how we pray and plead but also by looking at how we spend and give. What relationship does your heart have with money? 

Cultivating a Deeper Relationship with Christ Changes Everything

Presenter: Kevin Yi

When we think about spiritual disciplines, we often tend to think in terms of 3 categories: Bible reading, prayer, and if we’re really serious about it, fasting.  But often, we wonder if there’s more to our relationship with the Lord than these things. At this workshop, we’ll learn a deeper variety of spiritual practices that can help us not only grow closer to the Lord, but build community around us, and live more intentionally for his kingdom.